“Mr Sullivan has an ear for lyrical phrases and for catching the idiom of everyday speech,” writes the anonymous reviewer. (By a tradition dating back to the 1800s and to longtime editor Walter Bagehot, virtually all pieces in The Economist are unsigned.) “He writes in an endearing first person voice that can be both wryly observant and objectively fair at once. There is warmth to his writing, which means that even over such an array of subjects, there is a satisfying sense of cohesion to the collection as a whole.”

The review also praised Sullivan’s distinctively Southern voice. (A good thing, since he’s Southern editor for The Paris Review.)

A Wilmington resident for nearly a decade, Sullivan famously lives in a house used as a set in the TV series “One Tree Hill.” (He wrote about the experience in his essay “Peyton’s Place,” reprinted in “Pulphead.”) He is also author of the history/memoir “Blood Horses.”

Submit Your Comments

Name

Required

Mail

Required, will not be published

Website

Comment

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

About This Blog

This is an emporium for all things literary: occasional book reviews, local book news, items about authors (mostly from the Cape Fear area but occasional visitors) and miscellaneous rants.

The usual author is Ben Steelman, feature writer and book columnist for the Star-News. He’s that shaggy, slightly smelly character you spot lurking in the back aisles of your local bookstore. Physically, he has more than a passing resemblance to Ignatius J. Reilly, hero of John Kennedy Toole’s “A Confederacy of Dunces” — some observers have noted other parallels as well.